Not One Difference
by RightToRemainSilent
Summary: “I don’t care how you spend your time back in the Mountain, as long as you spend it away from me!" Deep down, Arra knew she didn't mean it, but there was no way she was telling him that. :oneshot: AxL


**A/N: **Well, after my last SoDS fic went down fairly well, I've decided to give the Dynamic Duo of Arra and Larten a go again, and this is the result of an evening spent sitting in the dark. This is set fairly soon after Larten and Darren arrive at Vampire Mountain, but not too early in their stay as Darren has already gone against Arra on the bars, for time reference.

**Disclaimer: **Believe me, if I was Darren Shan, you'd know about it by now.

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**_Not One Difference_**

**_~x~_**

"I've had enough of this; I'll be back later, Vanez."

Arra sighed and excused herself from the Games Hall, tossing her staff to the Games Master and pushing her way through the jostling vampires, her grey eyes shadowed by the perpetual scowl that had made itself at home on her face. The reappearance of Larten had been a surprise, if she was honest, but Arra Sails did not – on any occasion – let her feelings show, unless there was a good cause. And the appearance of an old partner was not what she classed as a good cause. Not yet, anyway.

She was so intent on weaving her way out of the Hall that she didn't notice the flash of orange in the crowd. Nor did she notice the brief glimpse of a blood-red coat, until someone tapped her sharply on the shoulder. She sighed, and turned around slightly, to be greeted with the frowning face of Larten Crepsley. The last person she wanted to see, frowning or not. She found it somewhat awkward to act as if everything was okay between them, and so she hadn't tried to reacquaint herself with him at all. He, however, had been trying to get a word out of her for a good week or two.

"You have been avoiding me, Sails." He stated, a hint of amusement hidden beneath his words.

"No I haven't, Larten." She shrugged him off and continued through the raucous swarms of rowdy vampires. A confrontation was the last thing Arra wanted, and she made her path from the hall more elaborate, twisting through the throng in the hope of loosing him.

As she left the bubbling atmosphere of the Games Hall and embarked along one of the darker passages of the Mountain, she breathed a sigh of relief – Larten was nowhere in sight.

"I think you will find that you have, Arra."

_Damn. _Obviously she'd been wrong. "It's only classed as 'avoiding' if you've been hounding me since you got back and I've been going out of my way to get out of seeing you. You haven't been stalking me around the Mountain, therefore, Crepsley, it is _not _avoidance."

He looked down at her, exasperated. "I would have, but Darren would get himself into far more trouble in the Games and such if I did not chaperone him around."

It was true, she admitted. Larten's assistant was prone to getting involved in battles he had no hope of winning – a drinking contest against a burly, World War Two vampire who went by Lance had proven that the young vampire couldn't resist a challenge, _and _that he couldn't keep his drink down.

Arra crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him. "_Darren _seems perfectly able to hold his own, Larten." She remembered only too well the fight on the bars, and was – grudgingly – aware that the boy had a certain talent. What exactly that talent was, wasn't all that clear yet, but it was there. Already, though, he had started to take after his mentor. Not that either would admit it, of course, Arra thought, smugly.

"I just wish to talk with you."

"I'm busy."

Now it was Larten's turn to look dubious. "Really?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, weighing up her options. "Yes." And with that, she turned sharply on her heel, and strode off down the corridor.

Sighing and rolling his eyes briefly, Larten hurried after her. "Arra! Please, just a moment."

Her voice swam down the candle-lit passageway. "No!" Even as the word left her lips she regretted it. Despite her protests, deep down, she _did_ want to talk to him; more than she ever had. Find out why he'd vanished into the night, all those years ago, maybe. Find out more about his reasons behind blooding a _child - _not even Larten was that careless, not usually. Find out if anything had changed between them. But her pride wouldn't let her, and the sooner he realised that and left her alone the better it would be. _For both of us._

Suddenly a hand gripped her thinly-clad shoulder and spun her around briskly. "Arra Sails, are you refusing to speak with me?"

Glaring at him from under a veil of tangle hair that had been flung into her face as she turned, Arra sniffed. "I think I am, yes. Take the hint, why don't you?"

Larten Crepsley seemed to find this rather amusing, as a dry chuckle billowed from his lips. Arra, however, felt her glare increase. Larten just smiled down at her. "You cannot ignore me forever, Sails. The Mountain may be big, but it is certainly not boundless." He raised an eyebrow and smirked in a typical-Larten gesture. "We would be sure to… _bump_ into each other at some point."

"Not if you realised that I'm only doing what's obviously the best choice!" She was getting angry, now. Arra clenched her fists and shook him off roughly, stepping a pace back. "Darren needs all your attention now, and I don't give a damn if I never see you again." Just saying those words felt like blasphemy. Of course she'd give a damn, of course she'd care if she never set eyes on the infuriating redhead again. But that was what he wanted to hear, and she was not giving him what he wanted. Not this time. "I don't care how you spend your time back in the Mountain, as long as you spend it away from me! You could spend it drunk under a table in a godforsaken corner somewhere and it would make no difference to me at all! Not an _ounce _of difference! Maybe I would've done if you'd returned a few years ago, Larten, but not now. I really don't give a—"

Her outburst was silenced when his lips brushed against hers lightly, the feeling enough to make her eyes widen and her vocal chords suddenly give up the will to live. Then she realised what he'd done, and glowered at him, planting her palms on his chest and shoving him back, more for effect than outcome; Larten hardly flinched.

"Don't do that again, Crepsley." She growled, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. "It won't change my mind."

"Are you certain?"

"Oh yes."

A suspicious glint had appeared in his eyes, and Arra frowned, sure he wasn't finished with his crusade to get her to talk to him quite yet. "Then you will not have a problem with this, either, then." Once again, the vampire bent towards her, and again he kissed her. Arra wanted to push him away, to yell at him to stop trying to get into her good books and just leave her alone, but she couldn't find the words. Instead, she unfurled her fingers and automatically laced them behind his neck, settling into his arms as if she'd never been away.

After a moment, Larten pulled away, grinning. "_Now _will you agree to talk to me, Arra?"

Silence seemed to reign in the passage, and then the distinct sound of a palm making firm contact with a cheek rang out.

Smirking up at his flaming face, Arra chortled softly as Larten stared at her with a mixture of surprise and affection. "I suppose so, Crepsley. I suppose so."

**_~X~_**

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**_Meh._** Well, comments welcome! I've been mulling over the idea of another ShanSaga fic for a while, but I couldn't think of a setting/plot line. So I just sorta sat at my computer and started typing absolute drivel, and... this was the result. Hope I've done it some justice, at least...

Thanks for reading,

Symph x


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